KNAVESMIRE Harriers' men's team top the table after an excellent cross-country showing at Hartlepool in the North Yorkshire South Durham League.

Andy Capel spearheaded the charge with his best-ever cross-country performance to finish in third place (31m 10s) over a muddy and hilly 9k course. He was followed in by Neil Strange (14th), Andy Booth (26th), Steve Boynton (41st), Barry Atkinson (45th) and Dave Chippett (50th), who completed the first six points-scoring runners.

These were tracked in by Matthew Turner (70th), Richard Johns (134th), Malcolm Fawcett (137th), Phil Marten (139th), Mark Sullivan (142nd), Brian Hughes (147th), Richard Gott (161st) and Rob McDonald (171st) out of the 189 finishers.

This was the second race in which Knavesmire had their six counters in the top 50 places. Their score of 179 was only beaten on the day by host club Hartlepool Burn Road AC.

Knavesmire Ladies, who missed the first meeting at Barnard Castle, scored their first points with Mandy Clarke leading the charge to finish 21st over the 3-mile course.

Also scoring the points for the ladies were Justine Head (28th), Gill Boynton (31st) and Deb Mapperley (39th).

Four ladies making their cross-country debuts were Janet Neeve (52nd), Debbie Kidman (65th), J Allen (68th) and H Norris (69th). They contributed to help the team finish fifth on the day and to put the ladies in eighth position in the league.

In the individual sections Andy Capel is currently the highest placed North Yorkshire runner, lying in second place. Neil Strange is in 13th position in the Senior Men's category.

Steve Boynton is in ninth place in the veteran 40 category. Mandy Clarke holds eighth place and Justine Head twelfth in the ladies section.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.